dissidiacalamitasinfinitafandomcom-20200215-history
Story:A Prayer for Sin/Chapter 1
How many times will you betray yourself, until you find something that matters? Against this transparent wall of indifference, how many times will you lean? You believe a teardrop of effort here and there will someday make an ocean Sweet child, shall I give you something to cry about? Then perhaps you will suffice~ If your love is simply an idea, then do as you please If your love is reality, then you must show me its fruit It won’t do to make an island of yourself Know that your Mother is your only refuge How scared you are, to stand at water’s edge and lie to your own reflection! How blind you are, how many hands you must need to cover up all those eyes! Soon enough, I shall put those hands to work Soon enough, you shall give me everything I desire When the library had long receded behind a curtain of thunderheads, Sloth thought it safe to break the silence. “I bet you would have been super popular in there, Enbii. You’re just as short as that Vainia lady, you two would hit it off like nothing. Just as angry, too!” The jest was ostensibly true, but unwise. “I was only forced to talk to those people because of your miserable history as an emissary, you incompetent loon.” The glare from his companion was somehow more violent than usual. “The way that oily ‘doctor’ looked at me… the way they all looked at me…!” Her words hissed across the ashen landscape like drops of venom, dissolving into the nascent rain. Sloth gave her a respectable berth and let her lead. He wasn’t sure where they were going, as usual. “Don’t you uh, like that, though? People fawning over you?” “What!!? Drivel…” Envy was now so far ahead that Sloth couldn’t see her face. “The robot would have given us away, idiot! One more comment about ‘mineral composition’ or ‘deconstruction’... you better have gotten some good intel while they were gawking!” Sloth had to run now to keep up with her storming pace. He had never warmed to the concept. How does she move so fast in those fancy shoes? “Yeah, you distracted ‘em pretty well. Was able to poke around the facility a bit without being noticed. Well, except for a random jar of green stuff I set off.” The rain had begun in earnest, joining gray earth to gray sky. Good thing her hair is so flashy, or I wouldn’t be able to see her. Envy’s magenta bob spun around in an irritated pause, allowing him to catch up. “Well? What did you find? Their weaknesses, their flaws? Can we infiltrate them easily? Is this another fool’s errand? Do I have to squeeze the information out of you?” The crushing motion she performed with both hands was extremely convincing. “Whoa, slow down.” Sloth rubbed the back of his head and attempted to translate what he had seen through veils of smoke into words. “There were a lot more people inside, so I couldn’t poke around that well. There are rooms full of bubbling flasks and stuff…” He frowned. “...But also ones packed with weapons.” One room in particular had featured a stockpile of explosives and several large pieces of artillery. He hadn’t lingered long; the place had sent a chill down his spine. “It didn’t feel right.” To his surprise, Envy appeared to agree with him. “That ridiculous robot was full of gaudy weaponry, the ‘doctor’ was definitely hiding something under that cloak, and that supposed Queen… well, she was quite sensible. But yes, it appears our loving mother sent us into a building full of deranged scientists who violently outnumbered us.” Her lips, too perfectly pink to be human, curled in an expression of absolute disgust. “This would be sad if it wasn’t so typical.” With a huff and exaggerated about-face, she resumed stomping off away from the Library. “Look at it this way, sis,” Sloth tried, thankful she had turned her scorn to someone that wasn’t him. “We both got out okay, dug up enough dirt to know that we’re definitely not going back, so mission success, yeah? Now we can hang loose for a while.” The look on her face was full of what could have been pity. “You do know that we’re going to rendezvous with Greed at the Salt Flats, yes? Hopefully he’s had more success with his lead than we have. Please feel free to tell him and Mother all about our success and 'hanging loose'.” Even Sloth didn’t have a pleasantry to respond to that. Greed probably won’t care. He’s probably done better on his lead than us! It was the other prospect that cowed him. The two Children of Sin strode on, with only the rain to speak between them. Finally, Envy halted at the edge of… of nothing, it seemed. “What’s up, Enbii? Getting tired? So am-” “We’re at our destination, you clod. Use your eyes, you have enough of them. Or are you as blind as that insufferable tangerine-haired hag?” “No.” Sloth’s response was unnaturally sharp. He looked away from his accomplice, out across the vast expanse of ash. Envy sighed, swatting her hand around her as if to delete a particularly annoying insect. The motion had the double effect of redirecting Sloth’s attention and summoning a crystalline wall directly behind them. She curved her fingers as it rose, creating a wave-like structure that shielded the pair from the storm. As he adjusted his vision to focus on the rain a short distance in front of him, Sloth understood why Envy had stopped. Some droplets disappeared instantly upon hitting dust, but others struck with greater impact. Thousands of tiny transparent pillars rose and fell, each of an instant, each departing with a ghost of a ripple. The picture they formed settled with a gentle grace in his mind’s eye. Water. “Regular people aren’t able to see the effect of the rain on the salt pools, or see the pools at all,” Envy began, as if she knew what he was thinking. “I’ve made my escape more than once leading would-be pursuers to the Salt Flats. One wrong step, and…” A smirk of distorted joy lit up her entire face. “Down they go.” “Gotcha,” Sloth replied. He still stared at the outline of the treacherous lake. “How come we can see it?” An even-tempered drawl answered him in place of Envy’s more acrid tones. “Reckon that’s yet another thing we ain’t meant to understand.” The third member of the group joined them underneath the crystal shelter. A quick flourish of a burning card, and Greed’s dapper ensemble looked like it had never been out in the rain. “Take it you kids haven’t had any luck.” Envy pouted and turned away; Sloth offered a sheepish grin. “‘Fraid so, boss. You?” The man’s yellow eyes sparkled like diamonds. “Let me tell you...” There was salt in the air and gold in the eye of the gambler, the same as the others that looked upon him. But his eyes were different. Envy couldn’t trust them; even less than she already distrusted all others. She had seen those same eyes before, stuck and stuck wide open in the eyes of those that crawled and pecked over the dead. Vultures. It had been so long ago that she saw them begin to peck on those fallen in her city’s streets, yet the memory was still clear as day and twice as bright in her nightmares. Surely this man had a hand in drudging those up for her. "You ever gone hunting, little lady?" he drawled, looking deep into Envy's eyes from beneath the brim of his hat. If he saw something that disquieted him in her soul, he didn’t show it. Of course he wouldn’t. Too clever for his own good. He looked down and pulled the hat off to dust it on his hip, though beneath her crystalline world they are dry and safe and nothing could touched them. "I cannot say that I have." Envy eyed her comrade with suspicion, as she did all the rest of the Children. "Difficult to hunt in the slums I came from. Rats and homeless don’t make for exciting prey." "It is a uniquely thrilling thing," he continued, adjusting the hat atop his head and scratching at his stubble, as if she hadn't said anything at all. "Watching something when it doesn't see you there. Knowing you have its life in your hands. Holding it close to an edge with the tip of your long finger. You ever wonder how many lives rest on these cold hands of ours, little lady?" Sloth yawned. And this one, absent of any cleverness at all. Revolting. Greed flinched an inch, and his too-bright eyes cut over to the man, but he said nothing to him. Just continued speaking in that same even, anachronistic way of his. "I found someone alright. Think I took a different approach to it than y'all and that's what did it. You've gotta find the lifeblood in them and then use that as bait. Find where they don't dwell. That's how you find the big ones." "Enbii~ Would you conjure up a little crystal pillow for meee? It doesn't even have to be soft." "How's a guillotine sound?" Sloth guffawed nervously. "You heard the ‘lil’ lady'," he says, holding his hands out to Greed with resignation and mimicking the man's accent. "Mind making this a bit more exciting? Did some explosions happen or something?" "Don’t ruin the fun. You see, I don't think I made myself clear enough, kid. I found the definition of Aura. From one hunter to another: if we bag this one, I reckon we'll have plenty of time to kick our feet back and enjoy a nice round of brew. First round will be on me." "A fabrication," Envy spat. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared up into Greed's shadowed face. How it annoyed her the way those two clung so stubbornly to their cowardly umbra! "I would see it for myself. I would seize it for myself." "You calling me a liar?" "I'm calling you a coward. I know you, avatar of avarice. If this person were worth this much, you would have dragged them back to Mother yourself and laughed at our state." His smile wasn't one of offense, nor even irritation. He looked amused. "You know me quite well, old girl. You been watching my back lately?" She could feel her face go red, even frozen as it was in this crystalline vessel. She seethed, and didn't bother to respond. For his own good - for it surely wasn't out of altruism - the man shrugged and held out a hand with some card game related gesture she didn't recognize. A surrender, she assumed. “For your information, I chose not to attack because I wasn’t quite sure if I could tackle ‘er all by my lonesome. More hands on the saddle makes for a swifter ride.” “You don’t need help. You need decoys.” The same gesture, the same gold-teeth grin. The same unending sound of water on crystal smoother than ice. “Sure, I’ll go along with it,” Sloth said, managing to shrug and slink down into a squat on the wall at the same time. He waved up a familiar from the darkness outside the makeshift pavillon; the other one squatted next to him and held up a fist, which Sloth let his cheek rest on. “Be your decoy, I mean. Why not? Not like I could die again.” He snickered. “But only if you’re serious about this relaxing thing. I really don’t feel like doing this anymore.” “''I'' did all the work last time, you sniveling-” “A deal’s a deal, and that’s one if I ever heard one. Put ‘er there.” Greed squatted to Sloth’s level and held out a hand, which Sloth shook with his doppleganger’s free hand. The main body nodded at his comrade, and yawned. She dismissed the structure, and made sure the greatest concentration of ice-blue crystal debris rained on Sloth and his clone. “Show us where this mark is, then,” she said, snapping at Greed as he stood up, dusted his hat again. “The sooner I can get away from this putrid slob, the better.” Then there was the grin again, and Greed turned to the dark. They crossed the lake on a bridge she made of crystal, and the waters of the dead earth became salt and dust beside them. There was nothing to see but mist and gray all around them in every direction, so much so that she stopped bothering to look around. Or even to look back. The indolent trailed behind her, occasionally becoming shade and dust himself. Every time he reappeared she sucked her teeth and her mood grew fouler. At some point the lake became a pure white plane and then a plain of short dead grass and then they saw what could have been stone around them, or the unattainable mountains that perpetually stained horizon. They walked for over an hour. She didn’t speak the whole way. ---- Nam Mo itched with the desire to fix things. A dangerous, reckless, foolish, boneheaded feeling, she told herself, projecting the scolding voice of Aunty into her mind. Trying to fix things was a form of interference. The sort of person who interfered was the kind of individual who didn’t realise how unwise they were. The real wisdom was to realise that a thing wasn’t wrong for being broken. It was the eighth time she had told herself this and it had approximately the same effect as all the other times. Nam Mo sighed. And yet she kept coming back. Now that was the height of folly. Once more, she began to trace her way around the square. She kept to the largest groove; sitting on the central pillar would be like playing with fire and she was past those days. This outermost groove was wide enough that she could walk comfortably inside it, its edges just above her ankles, though every few metres she had to step out of it to avoid a sudden barricade or stream of sand cascading perpetually down the walls. It took one thousand, two hundred paces to walk around the entire outermost square. Five hundred and sixty for the second square. Two hundred and forty for the third. A mere fifty paces for the innermost. Four concentric square gates, one within the other, with a pillar of smooth stone in the centre. A mandala. Perhaps she kept returning because, ruined as it was, the mandala was the only familiar landmark she had found in all this strange other realm. Unbidden, she raised her eyes to the sky again – dull, featureless flat iron hung to the ground, hugging the distant mountains claustrophobically. Nam Mo had been taught about the six other realms of existence, but the one she found herself in didn’t match with any of them. She had met several people on her journey who had informed her with varying degrees of sincerity that they thought they were in Hell, but she had politely disagreed. Hell was generally considered to be less empty and significantly higher on her suffering quotient. Which meant that she was in somewhere that was beyond all of her knowledge, possibly without any hope of return to her old home beyond the inevitable, but that was all right in her books. Nam Mo carried all the world she needed with her: a simple prayer mat, her simple robe, a single jade bracelet and a worn wooden staff. Every object was as familiar to her as her own face. Yes, she could fix it. She felt the need – the desire, she corrected herself - trembling in her fingertips, magic a heavy weight low in her abdomen. Like a thrumming song in her blood. She bit the inside of her cheek and crouched down, as if an examination of the mandala’s improbable origin might convince her that it was impossible, that she really didn’t understand what her heart comprehended. The surrounding earth was the same gritty, ashen substance as the rest of Sundry. Nam Mo scooped up a handful and let it fall through her fingers. It flowed with a soft, silken whispering down the edges of the groove and then melted away almost imperceptibly. When she touched the sides of the groove, she felt only smooth, immaculate stone. A knife through yak butter could not have cut as cleanly. There was a trace of blue paint, long-faded, on the piece of wall she was examining. Nam Mo squinted at it; it was so bleached that it was almost grey in colour, forming an irregular patch that faded into the surrounding frozen ash. Nam Mo pressed her hand against it- And saw-'' ''A spiral formed in different shades of grey, from ebony to brilliant white, coiling towards a central pillar - no, an altar - above which floated a spark of pure radiance the danced within a glass orb. When she looked at the lines of black and white, she saw that each path was made of smooth rocks which became pebbles which became gravel, specks, sand the longer she stared. And if she knew that if she watched the captured light it would become a galaxy, she would fall into stars, nebulae, planets, moons… A burst of pain tore her from the vision. Nam Mo yelped as Aunty dug another talon into her shoulder, drawing twin trickles of blood down her collarbone, then postured threateningly with her beak. “Aunty! No more; I’m fine now!” The owl gave a hoot of disgust. “Thank you,” she murmured. Aunty ducked her attempt at scratching her head, then grabbed her finger in her beak, dragging it backwards. When Nam Mo stared uncomprehendingly at her, she gave a shorter hoot and flew away. Nam Mo froze in the act of following the owl. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of what her interference had wrought: a vivid section of ultramarine, so bright that it could have been painted today, outlining a perfect handprint. “Oh no.” ---- “It’s just a single girl,” Envy spat, peering through the heavy underbrush to fix the target with a baleful stare. “This is the magical font of Aura you couldn’t bring yourself to apprehend without us carrying you?” “Can’t judge a horse by its coat,” Greed insinuated. In the voice of a more trustworthy person it might have been a helpful maxim, but from him it sounded far more dubious. “A what now?” Sloth wondered, without any shred of genuine interest. “A horse. Like - oh right, you kids made do with those blasted giant chickens on your continent. Basically those, but a damn deal less ornery.” Envy somehow managed, chameleon-like, to train one eye on Greed and keep the other directed at the distant figure. Both burned equally with hate. She couldn’t tell what was more infuriating - the way the other two squawked about beasts of burden or the way their target crawled around in the dirt like a beast of burden. “Greed’s right, Enbii~” the masked man sang. “Look at you! Barely five feet, but packing heat. Couldn’t tell from the package.” Only the possibility of alerting their quarry suppressed Envy’s desire to pack a square meter of heat squarely across Sloth’s face. Slowly, deliberately, she unhinged her crystal jaw just enough to issue her demands in a whisper. “Stop your absurd bleating and fan out around the target. She is too preoccupied with squatting in the soil to put up any meaningful resistance.” Against me, at least, she thought darkly. That Sloth was generally incompetent was an old and tired fact that still managed to stupefy her whenever it reared its pitiful head. What bothered her more was Greed’s unpredictability. The man would slip away from tasks he arbitrarily determined without merit, only to show up sometime later and ensure he picked up a portion of the spoils. Spineless vulture. Why did it always fall to her to put plans into motion? If that bloated rock-woman ever got her fill of Aura, Envy would make sure she knew who was responsible. “Hey, boss, don’t you want me to set up some clones first?” Sloth asked. Is this twit actually volunteering to do something useful for once? Her dumbfounded pauses allowed Greed to respond first. “Might not be the wisest idea. Those things would cause more of a ruckus than they’re worth, what with all the undergrowth.” Of course. Far from it from Sloth to come up with a good idea. I don’t know why I even entertained the thought. “Unless your cheek needs resting,” she shot at him. Greed chuckled in appreciation. “Looks like the bird’s in some sort of trance. Don’t let her fool you - she ain’t no sitting duck. Let me call the shots, I’ve watched her before. If that’s alright with you, little lady?” Envy scoffed. She had just started to form an elaborate plan that involved the other two mostly taking a back seat, and now the hyena steps forward? A brief battle waged within her - defer to an inferior mind with more experience, or take control with some degree of blindness? She watched the girl crouch, absolutely still, her hand immersed in some random patch of dirt. Her angularity, her frailness, her fragility - it reminded Envy of herself, in weaker days. Immobile and helpless on the ground a lifetime ago. She was so helpless then, but now… Greed was right. The girl might be as harmless as a worm in this very moment, but who knew what power she could display when angered? And he did ask so nicely. She relented. “This was your idea. At least have the competency to see it through.” “Much obliged.” There was almost a note of sincerity in Greed’s voice as he put an arm around each of his comrades and drew them close. Envy wondered how a being allegedly comprised of pure crystal could smell of musk. “Now quickly, before she-” Their prey cried out suddenly, appearing to have a conversation with some invisible being. Though the dense foliage blocked part of her vision, Envy couldn’t make out the presence of another person. Insane, on top of everything else. This better be worth it… “Looks like we lost our best chance,” Greed drawled, straightening up and adjusting his hat. “S’all right, nothing I can’t fix. Now listen here…” ---- Sloth liked his part of the plan. It involved walking straight up to the target, shooting the breeze, and letting his teammates do the actual capturing part. Stepping soundlessly across the crystal platform Envy had conjured above the potentially noisy undergrowth, he practiced his best “nice to meet you” smile. It combined all the practiced poise of nobility and all the genuine kindness of an auntie selling fish on the streets. Once he had settled on the right rictus, he listened for Greed’s signal - the soft sound of a playing card sighing through the air and embedding itself in a nearby stalk. The cue came almost immediately, as something indistinct flew directly behind him. Yikes, that was quick. Alright, best face forward. Without bothering to check for what should have been a playing card nearby, Sloth hopped lightly into the clearing. The girl was already staring straight at him. “Sup?” he beamed. “Mind if I join-” A shriek cleaved through the trees somewhere from Envy’s position, followed by a stream of curses. Sloth barely had time to register a small airborne object bursting into the clearing from her direction before it smacked against his face. At the same time, he felt his legs give way from underneath him. As he fell, he saw the quarry leap away with a aid of a long pole - where did that come from? - and utter a pleasant “No thank you!” Instead of the earth, his back bounced off a hunched-over clone, which allowed him to break the fall with a modicum of grace. The space in front of him, once completely clear save for some funny markings on the ground, was now a warzone. Envy had emerged from her hiding spot in a violent wave of crystal structures, chasing the winged blob Sloth could now see was a very nimble owl. The target, meanwhile, danced away from a flurry of rapidfire cards thrown by Greed, who was perched precariously on two of his cards embedded into adjacent plant stalks. With a flip of her staff, she vaulted towards the edge of the clearing. “Do something!” the other two shouted simultaneously, and he complied. A trio of clones blocked their mark’s escape, Sloth immediately taking place of the middle one. “Yo, rude-” “Run, Aunty!” she called out, and flipped away from him in a split second. Aunty? The supposed Aunty was now evading an increasingly hysterical Envy, who had conceived a huge crystalline staircase in the center of the clearing to get closer to her prey. It narrowly dodged a vicious stab from a transparent sword - Yikes, overkill much? - then swooped away and out of sight. The girl with the staff was deterred from following her companion by a flush of blue cards that erupted into thorn-wreathed spires of ice. A crystal wall blocked another path, and a group of leering clones sealed the only remaining exit. He half expected the little acrobat to jump away anyhow, but it was over in a way he did not expect. Greed, having climbed an outcrop of Envy’s staircase, jumped directly over the target, kicking away her pole, and captured her in… a burlap sack? The shape within the bag struggled only momentarily as Greed knotted it. Sloth slid over to the gambler and tapped him gently on the shoulder. “Hey, she’s gotta breathe, even if we don’t have to.” “What does it matter?!” Envy fumed, collapsing all her crystal creations in a vindictive shatter. Her hair, normally in a sedate bob, had scattered around her face like a thousand fuschia filaments of spun glass. “I should skewer this woman right here and now for what her flying rat did to me!” “Easy now, we got what we came for,” Greed said, a smug grin blooming on his face. “If you have a better way to secure our prize, I’m all ears.” Sloth smiled a purely genuine smile. It felt good to succeed. “Yeah, I got a clone or two with her name on it. More important, though - why do you carry around a sack?” ---- They got as far away from the weird square thing as they could with the girl squirming in his clones’ arms. At least that hellbird was nowhere in site, though Envy had still not managed to restore her once perfectly coiffed hair. Sloth grinned at that thought. “Eh boss, do you think it’s time to stop? My arms are getting tired.” “''Your arms'' aren’t doing anything, you twittering imbecile.” Envy gave him the predictable withering glare. “They didn’t do anything when we were capturing her, and now your clones are doing the only thing you’re good for! Heavy lifting!” “I’m just sayin’...you look a bit worse for wear, Enbii~.” It should not have been possible to sniff and glower at the same time, but somehow, Envy managed it. “Moron. There’s no kind of cover or defensible area here. If we drop her off here, she’ll just run away.” In reply, Sloth spread his arms in a gesture that somehow encompassed the entire flat expanse of nothingness which surrounded them. This particular area of Sundry’s Ashlands made the prairies back home look crowded and mountainous. “Anyway, she looks pretty harmless. It’s not like she put up much of a fight. Shouldn’t we check what goods we got before we dump them on dear Mother’s doorstep?” Envy stiffened. He could see her desire to argue with Greed war with her hatred of agreeing with him. Greed, however, had got them into this mess, so finally she rounded on him. “I loathe to say it, but shadows-for-brains has a point. Greed, we’ve got a useless lump. This girl has about as much Aura as a rock.” She kicked one of the countless dull shards of crystal that littered Sundry to punctuate her point. Greed smiled. It said a lot about Greed that despite everything Sloth had seen in his thankless third career, he still ranked Greed’s smile in the list of top five creepiest things he’d ever seen. “Go on and let her down and we’ll see for ourselves,” he drawled. Sloth had his clones drop the girl on the ground, none too gently. Had he been by himself, he probably would have commanded them to lower her to the ground; it didn’t seem like she was going to be of any use or harm to them, so they were probably going to let the harmless thing go anyway. No point in wasting energy causing random damage, right? But Greed and Envy were actually watching him this time. He at least tried to pick a softer patch of dirt to dump her on. “Ouch,” said the girl reflectively. Closer inspection did not reveal anything less benign than that syllable. Their captive was a slight, almost boyish young woman with close-cropped black hair, wearing a dull maroon wrap. The only item on her that wasn’t made out of rough cloth or wood was a jade bracelet around one ankle. She stared up at the three of them owlishly. He dismissed one clone and had the other grip her arms, firmly but not too painfully, behind her back. “Game time.” If anything, Greed’s smile grew wider, but his yellow eyes above them remained flat and calculating. “Evenin’, little lady.” The girl tried one experimental tug against his clone’s grip, then evidently gave up. She shifted awkwardly into a cross-legged position. “Greetings. My name is Nam Mo.” “You kin call me Greed. Now on the regular, I’d shake your hand, but…” He spread his arms out in a gesture of helplessness. “We’ll make do with what courtesies we can. These handsome fellows here are my partners, we call ‘em Sloth-” Sloth gave a lackadaisical half-wave, “-and Envy.” Envy said nothing, did not move. Merely glared at the girl unflinchingly. “Would that be partners in crime?” Nam Mo asked innocently. In the face of Envy’s naked, glowering dislike, she returned a pleasant smile. “Let’s not be hasty…” Greed gave an elegant shrug. “What happens now depends on you.” “Plenty’s happened already!” “I prefer to live in the moment,” Greed replied breezily. “What happened in the past - bygones be bygones, right? Your goose ain’t cooked just yet, we’ve just got the coals in the stove. Pardon if it gets a little warm. Maybe we’ll end up being friends.” He jerked his thumb towards Envy. “Never imagined that I’d be buds with this one, but here we are. Tight as thieves.” “We’re not friends,” Envy muttered. Her arms were now crossed, her foot tapping a steady rhythm of impatience. “And you’re the only thief here.” Greed’s smile dipped after Envy spoke, then swiftly vanished. “Or things could get a lot worse. Whaddya say?” “I’m not really sure what to say, since I don’t really know what you want.” She gave another tug against the unmoving clone. “I’d like to be released, though, if you don’t mind.” She looked at him. How had she known that? Sloth tried to play it cool, shrugging. “Sorry. Gotta do what the boss says. Right, Enbii?” “What?” That got her. Not for any real reason, but she squawked and then turned red, the colour contrasting impressively with her magenta hair. “Right! Keep a hold of her and shut up.” “I think our introductions aren’t quite done yet. Let’s start with that, shall we? Where are ya from, little lady?” “I think you might be mistaken. I’m not a lady at all.” “We could tell that from your clothes,” Envy sneered. “Your ill-breeding is more than evident, peasant.” Nam Mo ducked her head. “I am just a simple nun hailing from-” she said a long word that Sloth couldn’t really follow; it seemed to have at least three “y”s and two “v”s in it. “The road is not kind to material possessions, but I offer what little I have to you, if that’s what you desire.” She gave another shy smile. “I have some fairly excellent tea, if that would interest you.” “I prefer my drinks a little harder than tea,” Greed said drily. “Kind of ya, but not what we’re after. No, what we’re after is Aura.” “I beg your pardon?” Sloth was impressed. The cluelessness with which she uttered her reply was absolute. He made a mental note to imitate her tone to annoy Envy some other time. It was almost a shame that she was almost certainly not putting it on; it seemed a waste of a good blank face. Greed was undeterred. His eyes were like two shards of topaz, cold and glittering. “Aura. Magical, spiritual energy. You might know it by a different name. But you have it.” “Oooooooh.” Nam Mo shook her head. “This happens to me all the time. You’re thinking of her holiness Nam Thien. She’s the tulku blessed with the spirit and wisdom of Avalokitesvara. Rules in a big temple a couple of mountains from where I was born. I’m just a wandering nun.” “And that stunt you pulled with the big etching? That a magic trick your run of the mill nun knows?” “It’s a mandala,” she corrected, then added hastily, “Recognising it doesn’t mean I know how to use it properly! I’ve only seen a couple that big before.” “You can use it?” Sloth interjected, intrigued despite himself. Greed let the interruption slide, withdrawing a step to brood. He couldn’t work out what was hidden behind his sibling’s eyes. “Maybe Nam Thien could. Not me.” She cast her eyes down and added sadly, “At least, that’s how it works in my realm. Who knows how things happen here? Where I’m from, mandalas are symbols of my faith and ways to shape the shifting of the world.” “Sounds like magic to me. Can you do it?” Nam Mo shifted again, just slightly, though her face remained still. Her voice was helpful as she answered, “A bit? If you would like a blessing for your household shrine or to encourage the hungry ghosts to stay away, I can help you out. Or a pregnancy charm for the young woman…? But I don’t think any of that will really be any use to you.” To Sloth’s surprise, Envy did not verbally eviscerate the nun where she sat, but simply gave a short, low laugh that was utterly unlike her usual one. She stared hateful daggers into Nam Mo’s torso. “Something big like that huge mandala, though? I’d be delusional to even think about trying my hand with that.” “Then what did we see before we swooped down to say our hellos?” Greed’s voice slid in, soft and slippery as venom. Nam Mo met his gaze easily, her eyes bright and almost as blank as his. “I don’t know about you, but a lot of weird, unexplainable things have happened to me around this place. I can’t pretend to understand what occurred when I touched the mandala, but I think it was more this land than me. To be honest, I was just scared.” “Is that so?” ---- The vulture watched the nun lie, and his smile melted. It wouldn’t do to call a bluff this early in the game. Any amateur knew that. Stock your chips, investigate the hand of the opponents, make sure your own is flawless; then act recklessly. This nun wasn’t everything she said she was - that much was clear - and the other two were too busy hating each other to notice it, apparently. He wasn’t surprised about Sloth missing the cue, but Envy, too? Maychance it takes a liar to know one. For as long as he had known the girl, she hadn’t been one to hold her tongue or even to hoard information. If she suspected something, she would have said it. No, it seemed the only one that saw this thin little thing for what she truly had was Greed himself. Funny how that worked. Envy too deep in the gutters, Sloth with his head too high in the clouds. This woman was emaciated, levelheaded, and - most rare, and worst of all - she was kind. Had compassion dripping from the sockets of her eyes. Like she was watching a half-gutted mule drag itself and its innards behind it she looked upon them with pity and faint distaste. So what’s keeping you from taking us round back and just shootin’ us in the back of the head, old girl? He interrupted whatever they were bickering about with a cough, and drew the nun’s attention with a flick of a card out of his sleeve. As the two of them made eye contact, the card began to burn. “So yer tellin me - us - that ya can’t help us at all.” “Indeed.” “That ya got no magic ability worth talkin’ about - or at least, none worth the dust on a vagabond’s feet.” “That’s about right.” He watched every inch of her, from the eyes to the frown to the stillness of the hands. Everyone had a tell, and every lie had a reason. What was hers? “It don’t seem like you like us very much, and let me tell you if it ain’t clear yet that my two compatriots don’t really like you much neither. So what say we skip the horseshit and you help us help you?” Sloth chortled. “Again with the horses?” “Forgive me, but how could you help me, and with what?” “We could tie you loose for one thing. Maybe even help you out with that big magic circle you was tinkering with when we found you, for another. Miss Rosé here could likely do whatever kind of trick you’d want to see, and I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve as well. We’re a very multitalented bunch, if I do say so myself.” “We might even leave you alive,” Envy hissed from his side. “If we feel like it.” “Do we?” Sloth asked. “No.” “I truly would love to aid in your quest,” the nun claimed. “I can tell you’re quite desperate. But I truly cannot do so. It is beyond my capacity.” Polite, yet firm in the denial. And never a quiver of the muscles. It looked like she could tell he was watching her. Was holding back all expression to keep herself stone. What a poker face! “You’re in chains sitting in front of three morally bankrupt killers,” Envy retorted, “and we’re desperate?” “Yes,” the nun answered, then blinked. It seemed quite obvious, the way she said it. “Would I still be alive if you weren’t?” For once, Envy was at a loss for words. Greed was able to contain his laughter; Sloth wasn’t. “I am no magician and least of all a warrior,” the nun continued, as the child kicked the shadow. “And finally it is not my desire to aid in this world’s conflicts in any way.” “Oh I reckon you have us mistaken. That old goddess ain’t no kin of ours. This ain’t our war. All that’s not where the fruit of our labors headed.” “No, but it goes to a goddess of your own nonetheless. Correct?” “I could say no to that. But I ain’t no liar.” Secrets aren’t lies. Gambits aren’t cheats. “Your maker is summoned here as are all the rest of us. Therefore she has a part in this war. And therefore I may not aid, as I may not kill. If you will kill me for this so be it.” She accepted and even challenged her death without a single instant of waver or remorse in her steely brown eyes. The hard gaze belonged to someone older than she was. Just like their own. “But I don’t think you will.” Oh, she’s good. He could feel Envy opening her mouth to spout an expletive again, but Greed beat her to it. “Awright then. Have it your way.” The nun and the immortal child blinked and exclaimed to him at the same time. “What?” He grinned. “What kind of gentleman would I be without a backup plan? A rider without a saddle. A fool without a sword.” He nodded pointedly at Sloth, and didn’t bother to check if anyone else noticed the dig. “Oooh~, I like surprises,” the indolent purred. “Do we have to walk again, though?” “Just a little bit, yessir. But we’ll be making a trap this time. No need for another daring capture.” “Ugh, I knew this was too good to be true from the beginning.” Envy spat and began to levitate, as she always did when she was actually agitated. Her legs crossed beneath her and her feet almost disappeared beneath the fabric of her dress. “That’s what I get for wasting even half an iota of trust on a swindler like you. Let’s just kill this one and be on with it!” “No ma’am, that just won’t do. We don’t need to take her out back just yet.” “''Excuse'' me?” “I neither need nor want your mercies, sir.” “Reckon that’s the first time I ever seen a hog try to squeal her way back into the slaughterhouse. Kind of endearing, I’d say.” “I’m charmed.” “I’m furious,” Envy screeched. Transparent as always. “Greed, what are you doing? Is that hat too tight on your gargantuan head, or has Sloth poisoned you with his smoke again?!” “Hey, that was back home! I wasn’t used to my powers yet!” “Shut up!” Greed sighed, putting his card back where it belonged in the depths of his sleeve and retrieved a small pouch from the side of his belt. He pulled a sheet of rolling paper from a pouch on his thigh and licked one side of it and sprinkled tobacco from the pouch into it and rolled it and put the pouch back on his hip with the small cigarette on his lips and then lit it with a snap of his fingers. He exhaled a sweet smoke and closed his eyes and then opened them to see the nun staring at him. He knew she hadn’t looked away once. I’m not calling your bluff. Not yet. We’ll see who folds first. “You’re playing a real dangerous game, little lady,” he said, pointing the small smoldering thing at her from between his fingers. “You might think it’s best to sit still and wash your hands of us. But we’re no new cowboys. If you won’t give us what we need, maybe someone else will. We’ll see. That’s right. I said we.” ---- With a light dusting of his gloves, Greed strode back across the gently swaying stretch of grass. How he had tampered with the single stone lying in the field, he didn’t tell Sloth. Instead, he rolled another cigar and sauntered past the masked man. “Just mind hostage number one, and we’ll be set to get the second in no time. And whatever you do: If you see something odd-looking, don’t make eye contact with it. Don’t acknowledge it in anyway, or you’ll be wishin’ you hadn’t.” Envy shot Sloth a brief glower. “If only more things could be ignored like that.” “Don’t know what you’re talking about, Enbii~” He rubbed the back of his neck, enjoying the sensation of the sun on his faux-skin. “You kids set up your little trap on whatever that rock is supposed to be, and we’ll just hang loose back here. You’re sure about this one, yeah?” “I’ve kept a consistent tab on the gal that frequents this area around this time every day, or whatever you want to call a day in this world. There’s a stone wall that will give Envy and I some nice cover. Just sit back here and look pretty.” “Can do, boss.” He gave the other two a smart salute as they departed for their spot near the gravestone. With a snap, he commanded his shadowy toady to frog-march the captive behind a suggestion of a hill. It was the only real aberration in the entire Shard, save for the huge, cylindrical tower in the distance. In the sun of a cloudless sky, he could even make out the etching on the stone windows. “Nice Shard, huh?” He deposited himself on the ground and waved for Nam Mo to do the same. “It is one of the nicer ones,” the nun responded evenly, despite the difficulty of seating oneself while being arm-tied by a shade. “I thought the Mandala was very agreeable as well.” “Uh yeah, about that… It’s probably best to be upfront with Greed and Enbii about that thing. Would make your life easier in the end.” “You find the best option is to comply with all their requests, then?” she asked conversationally, eyes half-closed as a fresh breeze curled patterns in the grass. “Yeah, it’s worked out for me.” He felt as if he wasn’t fully answering her question, but he didn’t know what else to say. “Mm. We shall see if I am as fortunate.” The lids of her eyes sealed shut, and the wind picked up again. He shivered. “Hey, don’t worry, it will work out. We’re getting a replacement, so we’ll probably let you off the hook anyway. Just go with the flow - the less clones I gotta spend on you makes my job easier, which makes me happier. Everyone likes me when I’m happy.” His statement did not have the reassuring effect on the nun that he had hoped for. She opened her eyes, looking pensive, but a pair of approaching voices halted whatever she was going to say. They did not belong to Greed and Envy. Motioning to keep quiet, Sloth poked his head around the outcrop. His clone made a similar motion, which helpfully gave Nam Mo a better view as well. She found that it had frozen in an odd position, its grasp limp, and noticed her captor equally as immobile. Turning to match the twin masks, she spied a copper-haired woman and dark-skinned man taking a path towards Greed’s trap. The man, who sported pale hair and an outlandishly large firearm, was motioning towards the foreboding tower. “...might have more answers for you after Emir and Vainia take a stab at reaching the Balisteria. Thanks for being patient. I think they’ll have an agreement on the details once, um, they start to agree on some things.” The woman kept her amber eyes trained neither on her companion nor the giant structure, but on the gravestone ahead of them. “Thank you. It’s really no rush. You will know where to find me when you have news.” They passed Sloth and Nam Mo’s hiding spot without incident. The nun’s first concern was for the pair of visitors - were the kidnappers expecting two of them? The way Sloth had described them as replacements for her was disconcerting. Her second concern was for Sloth himself, as she became aware of a steady stream of whispered profanities escaping the man’s lips. “Shit. Shit.” The grip of the facsimile restraining her lapsed ever looser. She said nothing, remaining in inaction, not knowing the right course. Would these would-be victims be able to escape what awaited them? Would she be acting correctly by alerting them, or trust that by an unexpected strength in numbers, they would be able to fend for themselves? Was this what was bothering Sloth so acutely? A whirring sound disturbed her thoughts, and she saw Sloth visibly jump. Even if I do not betray our position, perhaps the choice will be made for me. For one miraculous moment she thought the hovering figure approaching was Aunty, but it revealed itself to be an odd floating blue-black contraption that darted up to the pale-haired man and beeped contentedly. “If you had to choose,” Sloth hissed at her, “which one of those people would you say has more Aura? Which one would you kidnap?” She did not feel that a non-answer was a particularly wise option. Each spider-iris set in Sloth’s turban demanded an unknown, correct response. Despite this, she decided to discard wisdom. “Neither,” she whispered. She could not tell if he was pleased, for he spun back to stare a thousand sockets into the pair. The man had just completed some sort of task with the strange hovering craft. “Hey, I have to go,” he said to his amber-eyed associate. “Concord’s drone says that something fishy happened back at the library. Are you sure you don’t want to…?” “You go on ahead. I’ll visit sometime. Or you will visit me, here.” Her response was noncommittal. “Okay then.” He lingered a moment longer, a worried look on his face. “I’ll see you back there, then. Promise!” With a speed unexpected of someone with portable artillery strapped to his back, he followed the hovercraft back in the direction opposite the gravestone. Now only the copper-haired remained. Sloth was actively dithering now, and Nam Mo was not sure how best to help him. The pearl of his skin seemed somehow paler than before, contrasting with the smoke of the additional clones he summoned, then dismissed immediately in a fit of indecision. “Nam Mo,” he croaked. “I need you to - to stay put here. I gotta talk to Greed and Envy - Enbii.” “Why?” she dared. “Because,” he mouthed. “This woman. She will be captured as I have? But she will be exploited, as I have not.” “She’s a Queen,” Sloth breathed. “''The'' queen. She’s - she doesn’t deserve this. She didn’t deserve any of it. I have to do something.” He continued to fret in place. “We have to do something.” A small squadron of clones popped into existence behind him, equally as inefficacious. The shadow holding the nun released her to join its fellows, yet they did not act. She tensed. Should she flee? Should she intervene, for this queen she did not know? There was a somber regality in the way the woman paced to her destination. She did not have the foresight of an owl to help avoid her fate. “I didn’t bring any flowers this time,” the queen said to no one. He turquoise jacket kissed the grass as she bent down to gather a single humble daisy sprouting along the rough path to the gravestone. With the sun cast sharply across her face, her opaque eyes cast downward, she suddenly looked very old. Silently, Nam Mo made her choice. Swiftly she traced her finger through the soft earth, which yielded willingly. Sloth was mumbling something to herself. “...I’ll make them see…” Softly the circles fell into place. She did not dare look up until beginning the fourth and final piece. Sloth had his clones at the ready, his hand held out to the side as if trying to grasp something that would not appear. All the holes in his mask reached out to the woman as if through glass. She was nearly at the sentinel stone now. “I’m back, April.” Immediately, all the shades disappeared. Sloth’s hand fell, dangling like a hanged man. He gazed dully at her pattern in the loam, then lifted his head to regard her. She read the depth in his eyes, and found only helplessness. So she acted. ---- "Wait a minute," Greed said. He put his hand on her shoulder to halt her; she slapped it off, turning over to scold him for daring. But the hardness of his countenance stopped her. "Is everything alright? Is there something wrong?" “Yes, actually." He stood up from behind the cover she had made and camouflaged out of crystal. "Do you see that? That light?" "What light? What are you doing, idiot? Sit down, you'll alert her!" He waved her concern away. "Envy, I'm serious. Look." First she peeked her head out from the side of her crystalline wall, then she stood up as well. A circle of some kind, gently glowing from between the softly dancing blades of grass, lit the earth beneath the target's face. They were hiding perpendicular to her, and she was staring intently into the tombstone in front of her - so intently that she didn't seem to notice the light, would not notice until it was too late. "It's her," Greed whispered. He dropped a handful of cards from one of his hands, and the same old burlap sack from the other. Seriously? Is this the extent of all of his plans? "She's doing this." "Wait, what? No - you think - agh, we should go, shouldn't we?! She's going to kill her!" Again Greed gripped her shoulder, and again he pulled her tight. This time she almost hissed at him, but again her rage faltered as she saw the extent to which Greed was shaken out of his comforting cool. "She wouldn't," he simply said. "Look. Watch and see." It was Greed she noticed - not the pulsating whites lights, not the flash as they pulsed upward around her, not even the faint smell of burning grass carried by the undead wind. By the time she stood up and frowned at him, it was too late - and by the time the light had faded, she was crumpled on the floor. And there floating like a ball of light in the middle of the still-shimmering circle was the Aura. ---- One cannot escape the burden of action. If I am not the one who pushes their bodies off the cliff, Then I am the one who watches them fall. One cannot tread on grass without harm. One cannot eat without taking life. One cannot breathe in without another breathing out. Today, I acted - I listened to a plea, I saved a life, Gave it to another to harm. My hands are not bloodless, but I am a coward. When they fell before me, my hands did not move to catch them. But everything is an action, Even staying still. How much longer can I lie to myself, And believe that to be motionless is to be without sin?